Heidi Pitlor grew up in Concord, Massachusetts. She got her B.A. from McGill University in Montreal and moved out to Colorado, where in Denver and Boulder she worked as a nanny, receptionist, freelance writer, bus girl, rape crisis counselor and counselor to homeless and runaway teenagers. She moved back to Massachusetts to earn her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Emerson College and worked as a temp at Houghton Mifflin Company. Soon after, she was hired as an editorial assistant in the company's trade division. She eventually became an editor and later a senior editor at Houghton Mifflin (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). She wrote fiction early in the mornings before work and published her first novel, The Birthdays, in 2006. She has been the series editor of The Best American Short Stories since 2007. Her writing has appeared in such publications as Ploughshares, The Huffington Post, and Labor Day: True Birth Stories by Today's Best Women Writers.The Daylight Marriage is Pitlor's second novel. From her Q&A with Annie Weatherwax at The Ploughshares Blog:
AW: Art & politics—there are some camps that think they should never mix. What’s your view? Are there times in history when pure aesthetics is more desirable? Is there ever a time (like now) where mixing art and politics is more imperative?The Page 69 Test: The Daylight Marriage.
HP: I think every artist is and should be different. For me, this has been a clarifying moment. We are really seeing the bigotry, sexism, racism, homophobia etc. that has been hidden just below the surface of our country for so many years. Personally, I can’t separate politics and art. Long ago, as an undergraduate, I studied political science. I’ve always had strong convictions about women’s rights and civil rights. The current situation in our country has, to my mind, bled beyond the usual confines of politics. So much is at stake, from civil rights to education to safety and security and the environment. Essentially, the future is at stake. I myself am unable to write about anything that feels...[read on]
My Book, the Movie: The Daylight Marriage.
--Marshal Zeringue